Daily Archives: 2 Aug 2017

Parents should be allowed to have their newborn babies killed because they are “morally irrelevant” and ending their lives is no different to abortion, a group of medical ethicists linked to Oxford University has argued.

The article, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, says newborn babies are not “actual persons” and do not have a “moral right to life”. The academics also argue that parents should be able to have their baby killed if it turns out to be disabled when it is born.

The journal’s editor, Prof Julian Savulescu, director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, said the article’s authors had received death threats since publishing the article. He said those who made abusive and threatening posts about the study were “fanatics opposed to the very values of a liberal society”.

The article, entitled “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?”, was written by two of Prof Savulescu’s former associates, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva.

They argued: “The moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus in the sense that both lack those properties that justify the attribution of a right to life to an individual.”

Rather than being “actual persons”, newborns were “potential persons”. They explained: “Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person’ in the sense of ‘subject of a moral right to life’.

And so it goes, when life isn’t treasured as the gift of God from its very inception. So in case you ever doubted it, here’s just more proof that Total Depravity is alive and well and abiding in so called ‘ethicists’.

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On Monday, Jared Kushner told a group of Congressional interns that they should not be worrying about history or reading books when it comes to important issues like the Middle East:

“Everyone finds an issue, that ‘You have to understand what they did then’ and ‘You have to understand that they did this.’ But how does that help us get peace? Let’s not focus on that. We don’t want a history lesson. We’ve read enough books. Let’s focus on, How do you come up with a conclusion to the situation?” (https://goo.gl/nugCUF)

The sorts of people close to Trump are just as ignorant as he is.

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A fall exhibit at Candler’s Pitts Theology Library will highlight the library’s renowned Kessler Reformation Collection, recognizing the collection’s 30th anniversary as well as the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. “From Wittenberg to Atlanta: The Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection at 30 Years” will be on view in the Pitts Exhibit Gallery from August 7 through November 27 during regular library hours, with opportunities for guided tours on six Fridays this fall at 1:00 p.m. Learn more and sign up for a tour.

In 1987, Richard and Martha Kessler donated their private collection of Reformation imprints and manuscripts to Emory University, which was then combined with Reformation holdings at Pitts. This launched an effort to enlarge and sustain a collection that documents the German Reformation, including 16th century publications by Martin Luther, his friends and associates, and his opponents.

After three decades, the Kessler Reformation Collection holds 3,800 works—a statistic approached by only two other libraries in North America. It also contains over 1,000 publications by Luther himself, more than any other library in the United States. The new exhibit will present the most significant pieces of the collection, including the first printing of Luther’s translation of the New Testament from the original Greek into German, printings of the 1530 Augsburg Confession, the first published edition of Erasmus’s Greek New Testament, a 15th-century Book of Hours, and illuminated medieval manuscript leaves.

The collection will also be the focus of the 30th annual Reformation Day at Emory on October 26, which will explore the question, “Did the Reformation fail?” Speakers for the program include Katherine Museus, associate pastor at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, who will preach at the morning worship service in Cannon Chapel; Julian Gordy, bishop in the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA); Larry M. Goodpaster, bishop-in-residence at Candler; and Wilton Gregory, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta. The event also includes a luncheon musical program featuring the Candler Singers, and an evening Kessler Reformation Concert featuring the Emory University Chorus and Orchestra. Learn more and register. Learn more about the exhibit.

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Give this a listen (after all the popups are dismissed). Chrisoph is a good scholar. And a very nice person.

This is an interview episode with emerging biblical scholar, Christoph Heilig. We spend much of our time discussing a new volume, which engages the work of NT Wright, called God and the Faithfulness of Paul. Seriously, get this book!

Actually, though, to correct their blurb, Christoph is NOT an emerging scholar. He has already emerged.

[NB- Although he doesn’t mention me. Which is a bit disappointing].

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It will come as little surprise to students of the Bible’s ancient Near Eastern affinities that the idea of the human king as a defender of the cosmic order is closely paralleled in the biblical texts. As in Assyria, the human king is YHWH’s counterpart, defending order and justice on earth in a perpetual re-enactment of YHWH’s own battle against chaos. Though deliberately obscured in the priestly account of creation in Genesis, the idea that YHWH’s creative acts were preceded by a battle against chaos is recognisable in a number of psalms.

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Citing the timeless truths and life-giving message contained in its lyrics, The Gospel Music Association revealed Wednesday that it has chosen Christina Aguilera’s 2002 hit “Beautiful” as the greatest worship song of all time, topping its list of the 10 best worship songs ever.

“‘Beautiful’ perfectly captures the essence and worth of the worshiper—which is what worship is ultimately all about,” a GMA spokesman said. “Take a second to ponder some of these lyrics, and let them really get down inside you:

“Oceans” by Hillsong, which was widely expected to top the list, came it at #2. Other notable entries include Lego Movie hit “Everything is Awesome” at #4, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams at #7 and LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” rounding out the list at #10.

During Sunday’s operation, which involved the Israel Antiquities Authority, Israel Police and Israel Tax Authority, the East Jerusalem homes and businesses of five antiquities dealers were raided, garnering previously unreported antiquities including ancient parchment pieces written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin, as well as ancient weapons, sculpture from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, pottery and bronze, silver and gold coins.

A report by NPR this week also listed among the items confiscated by police papyrus fragments from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the bust of an Etruscan woman, and a fresco from Pompeii depicting swimming fish dating back thousands of years.

Israel Police spokeswoman Luba Samri confirmed the additional seizure of two black luxury Audi vehicles and more than $200,000 in cash on Sunday. Samri said the raid followed a joint investigation with American law enforcement agencies that had been informed of Israeli antiquities dealers who had issued fake receipts and invoices over the past seven years, sparking an undercover operation that exposed the scheme.

In a conversation with The Times of Israel, Eitan Klein, deputy director of the IAA’s Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Looting, said the case is significant in that it highlights the fraudulent use of Israeli law in the dealing of artifacts looted across the Middle East.

Read the whole.

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Samuel Macauley Jackson, 1851–1912, American Presbyterian clergyman and encyclopedist, b. New York City. He was associate editor in the preparation of the original Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia (1884) and editor in chief of the greatly enlarged New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (13 vol., 1908–14). He also edited the Concise Dictionary of Religious Knowledge (rev. ed. 1891) and the “American Church History” series (13 vol., 1893–97). Jackson was religious editor of several encyclopedias and dictionaries. He wrote a standard biography of Huldreich Zwingli (1901), part of the “Heroes of the Reformation” series, which he sponsored. He was long the moving spirit of the American Society of Church History and edited its papers.

This is the anniversary of his death. He was one of the greats.

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On the 2nd of August in 1575 Heinrich Bullinger resigned his position as Pastor of the Great Minster in Zurich. He had served the City since 1531 when Zwingli had been viciously murdered by the Catholic troops at Kappel-am-Albis (where, incidentally, Bullinger had served the Church prior to his move to Zurich). Unfortunately, Bullinger’s ‘retirement’ was short lived. He died the same year.

Philip Schaff writes

His last days were clouded, like those of many faithful servants of God. The excess of work and care undermined his health. In 1562 he wrote to Fabricius at Coire: “I almost sink under the load of business and care, and feel so tired that I would ask the Lord to give me rest if it were not against his will.”

The pestilence of 1564 and 1565 brought him to the brink of the grave, and deprived him of his wife, three daughters, and his brother-in-law. He bore these heavy strokes with Christian resignation. In the same two fatal years he lost his dearest friends, Calvin, Blaurer, Gessner, Froschauer, Bibliander, Fabricius, Farel. He recovered, and was allowed to spend several more years in the service of Christ. His youngest daughter, Dorothea, took faithful and tender care of his health. He felt lonely and homesick, but continued to preach and to write with the aid of pastor Lavater, his colleague and son-in-law.

He preached his last sermon on Pentecost, 1575. He assembled, Aug. 26, all the pastors of the city and professors of theology around his sick-bed, assured them of his perseverance in the true apostolic and orthodox doctrine, recited the Apostles’ Creed, and exhorted them to purity of life, harmony among themselves, and obedience to the magistrates. He warned them against intemperance, envy, and hatred, thanked them for their kindness, assured them of his love, and closed with a prayer of thanksgiving and some verses of the hymns of Prudentius. Then he took each by the hand and took leave of them with tears, as Paul did from the elders at Ephesus.

A few weeks afterwards he died, after reciting several Psalms (51, 16, and 42), the Lord’s Prayer, and other prayers, peacefully, in the presence of his family, Sept. 17, 1575. He was buried in the Great Minster, at the side of his beloved wife and his dear friend, Peter Martyr. According to his wish, Rudolph Gwalter, Zwingli’s son-in-law and his [that is, Bullinger’s] adopted son, was unanimously elected his successor. Four of his successors were trained under his care and labored in his spirit.

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Is everything true that is to be found in the Bible? Let me draw a somewhat modern analogy by way of answering this question. Every one has seen the trade slogan “His Master’s Voice.” If you buy a phonograph record you are told that you will hear the Master Caruso. Is that true? Of course! But really his voice? Certainly! And yet — there are some noises made by the machine which are not the Master’s voice, but the scratching of the steel needle upon the hard disk. But do not become impatient with the hard disk! For only by means of the record can you hear “the master’s voice.” So, too, is it with the Bible. It makes the real Master’s voice audible, — really his voice, his words, what he wants to say. But there are incidental noises accompanying, just because God speaks His Word through the voice of man. Paul, Peter, Isaiah, and Moses are such men. But through them God speaks His Word. — Emil Brunner